Shop Windows to the Universe

People in Astronomy

This table includes astronomers and other scientists and philosophers who have had an impact on how astronomy has taken shape. It does not include the many astronauts who have made contributions to the field. If you would like to see someone added to this list, please submit your suggestion to our comments system.

You might also be interested in:

What types of instructional experiences help K-8 students learn science with understanding? What do science educators teachers, teacher leaders, science specialists, professional development staff, curriculum designers, school administrators need to know to create and support such experiences?...more

Aristotle was a Greek philosopher who lived between 384-322 B.C. He was one of the greatest thinkers of the world and his written works encompassed all major areas of thought. Aristotle mistakenly believed...more

Tycho Brahe was a Danish astronomer who lived between 1546-1601. For over twenty years, he made very accurate observations of the night sky, all without the aid of a telescope, which had not yet been...more

Nicholas Copernicus was a Polish astronomer who lived between 1473-1543. Before his time, people believed in the Ptolemaic model of the solar system, which maintained that the Earth was the center of...more

Leonardo da Vinci was an Italian artist and scientist who lived between 1452-1519. Leonardo was the original Renaissance man, whose roles included inventor, engineer, architect, mathematician, geologist,...more

Democritus was a Greek philosopher who lived between 470-380 B.C. He developed the concept of the 'atom', Greek for 'indivisible'. Democritus believed that everything in the universe was made up of atoms,...more

Christian Doppler was an Austrian mathematician who lived between 1803-1853. He is known for the principle he first proposed in Concerning the coloured light of double stars in 1842. This principle is...more

Albert Einstein was a German physicist who lived between 1879-1955. Probably the most well-known scientist of the twentieth century, Einstein came up with many original theories and invented modern physics....more